1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode driving apparatus capable of supplying a constant average current to a light emitting diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, interest in and demand for light emitting diodes (LED) have increased.
A device using a light emitting diode may be manufactured to have a compact form, such that it may even be used in a place in which it is difficult to install an existing electronic product. In the case in which the light emitting diode is used as a lighting device, various colors and degrees of luminance may easily be implemented therein, such that it may be used in a lighting system device appropriate for an activity such as watching movies, reading books, conferencing, and the like.
In addition, the light emitting diode consumes approximately ⅛ of the power consumed by an incandescent lamp, has a lifespan of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand hours corresponding to 5 to 10 times that of an incandescent lamp, is environmentally-friendly, since it is a mercury free light source, and may be variously implemented.
Due to these characteristics, light emitting diode lighting projects have been promoted as nationally-funded projects in many nations such as Korea, the United State, Japan, Australia, and others.
Further, recently, in accordance with the development of flat panel display technology, a flat panel display has been used in an automobile instrument panel as well as in a smart phone, a game machine, and a digital camera. In future, a range of flat panel display applications will be increased in devices related to daily life, such as a micro-thin television, a transparent navigation device, or the like. Further, in the current display industry, a new flat panel display (FPD) market reflecting multimedia requirements such as a high resolution, large screens, and the like, has been prominent. Particularly, in the case of a large display market, a liquid crystal display (LCD) TV has been rapidly grown, such that it is expected that the LCD TV will perform a leading role in view of price and marketability.
As a flat panel display, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is mainly used. This TFT-LCD includes a backlight unit emitting light and mainly uses a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) as aback light source. However, in recent times, an LED has gradually come into use therein, due to various advantages in terms of power consumption, lifespan, environmental friendliness, and the like. Therefore, a relatively inexpensive electronic power system for a backlight unit power module using the LED, and an appropriate control element therefor, have been urgently demanded.
As described above, the light emitting diode of which the use has increased requires a driving apparatus for the driving thereof. As described in the following Related Art Document, in the case of using direct current (DC) power, since a circuit supplying the DC power may be relatively complicated, a technology of driving a light emitting diode using rectified power has been developed. However, in this technology, regulation characteristics of current transferred to the light emitting diode may be deteriorated.